New Delhi [India], August 13 (ANI): The England Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Scotland opened the talks of introducing the Great Britain (GB) men’s and women’s teams for the next Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Cricket is brought to the marquee event for the first time since 1900 and the decision to bring it back came last year. The details of the event are not yet confirmed but the International Cricket Council (ICC) has suggested a six-team tournament for both the categories. The tournament will be played for a week and the matches for the teams are likely to take place consecutively rather than
“With the Los Angeles Olympics four years away, it’s very early stages, but we’re talking to Team GB and Cricket Scotland about the next steps we need to take. Once again Great Britain’s Olympians have captured the national imagination with their exploits in Paris this year, and we look forward to working together to compete when cricket returns to the Olympic stage in 2028,” an ECB spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo.
Further, the chief executive of the British Olympic Association, Andy Anson stated that nations like England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland come together and elect one country and the rest of them can support it.
“We’ve got good experience in golf, in rugby and in women’s football, of how the Four Nations [England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland] can come together and nominate one country to be the main governing body and work with the other countries. So I think cricket will be the same,” Andy Anson said.
“The ECB will be at the centre of that. They’ll have to work with Cricket Scotland to make sure that happens properly. We will help them sign agreements to come together and create a single national governing body, as we have done in those other sports. We are working very closely with the ECB to make them become the fully fledged National Olympic Committee member,” Andy Anson added.
Team GB is officially the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team. So the athletes from these two countries have an option to compete from which nation. But in Cricket, the game is organised on an all-Ireland basis, so players like Mark Adair and Paul Stirling are highly unlikely to play for Team GB.
The venues for the cricket matches in the mega event is yet to be decided. Los Angeles Knight Riders and Major League Cricket are thinking of building a new stadium in Great Park, Irvine. The Oakland Coliseum has also been considered as an option. (ANI)
